I See Fire
by xBrokenDreamingx
Summary: She had grown. She wasnt the suicidal little girl from the farm. She had grown to be a beautiful strong young woman, and she was just as strong as anyone from that prison. "Beth, you aint that little girl anymore." She stopped, rubbed her hand over her scar on her wrist, and looked at me. "I know."
1. One - Not That Little Girl Anymore

****I looked over to the small figure, whimpering under the tree. The young blonde sat across from me, quietly crying her eyes out. I could see she didn't want to cry in front of me, as her face was buried into her knees. I could still hear the small sniffles from the small girl, until she looked up at me. Her blue doe-like eyes overflowing with tears. I remained at the other side across the small fire I had put together.

"I cant do this anymore, Daryl. I thought I got stronger, but I'm not. Daddy's gone, Maggie's gone...everyone's gone." She paused her session for a minute to speak to me. She let a few tears pour over as she spoke, but I could tell she was trying to hold them back.

"I'm still here." I said. I had my arms lazily wrapped around my knees, as I sat with my legs criss crossed. She buried her head back into her lap and continued to cry.

"I know its not much, but I'm still here." I repeated, sighing. She nodded in her knees, then stood up.

"I'm going to go look for them. You coming?" She got the sudden rush of determination. I shook my head.

"Beth, I don't thi-"

"You don't think what? That they are alive? They are _all _stronger than me. I'm still here. That's gotta be a sign." She had a point. But I had to be honest with her. She had grown. She wasnt the suicidal little girl from the farm. She had grown to be a beautiful strong young woman, and she was just as strong as anyone from that prison.

"Beth, tha's not true and you know it. You aren't that little girl anymore." She stopped, rubbed her hand over her scar on her wrist, and looked at me.

"I know." She gripped her machete tighter, sighing. "Your a tracker. You can track." She started, going on a little rant which finally ended in her leaving me alone by the fire. Part of me knew I couldn't leave me alone out there, but part of me wanted to leave her. I finally listened to the angel on my shoulder and stood up, following after her.

"Look, tracks. It could be someone from the prison." She said hopefully, moving leaves off of a shoe print. It looked tiny enough to belong to Lizzie or Mika, but I knew the chances of it being them was very small. Beth stepped over to a tree, as a rustle came from the bushes. She rose her knife to her side. I picked up my crossbow, walking over to her as a precautionary measure. A walker stumbled out of the bush, pulling onto her ponytail. She let out a small gasp, struggling to push the dead off her. I suddenly felt protectiveness towards her rush over me, as I quickly shot the walker in between the eyes. She ran to me and wrapped her arms around me, crying into my shoulder.

"Beth, we aren't gonna die. I promise." I knew I couldn't keep that promise.

We found a sturdy tree with no weak branches, and I told Beth to climb it so she could sleep. She put up a fight, telling me she didn't need sleep, but I finally got her to get up the tree. I tied her to a branch by her waist and she immediately passed out. I kept watch, sitting against the trunk of the sapling and kept my eyes open. Anytime I felt my eyelids start to droop closed, I would jerk my head to the other side to keep awake.

Beth started mumbling things in her sleep. I couldn't make out what she was trying to say, but I knew it must have been about her father and missing sister. I can't imagine how she feels. Actually, I remember seeing my trailer on flames with my mom inside when I was just nine years old.

I was woken out of my thoughts by the sound of wood snapping. Unexpectedly, Beths weight was dropped onto me.

"Damn Girl, didn' know you could break tha' sturdy of a branch." I said as her innocent eyes opened to look at me. She smiled slightly.

"Sorry." She squeaked, quickly standing up. I chuckled, joining her.

"Come on, sweetheart. We gotta keep moving." She nodded, following me farther into the woods.


	2. Two - Intimation

"Daryl?" Beth stopped in her tracks, turned to face me, and pushed a strand of her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear. I focused on her worried expression, stepping closer to her.

"Whats wrong?" I asked, using my free hand to pull the strand back into her ponytail. She gave that "Beth Half-Smile" she always did, and her cheeks turned a light shade of rose. I smiled back at her a little, reassuring her whatever was on her mind would be fine.

"Do you think they are out here somewhere? I mean, I have faith that they are..." She looked down to the fallen foliage on the muddy ground, then back up to me. I could see the salty tears glossing her eyes up.

"I don' know, Beth. I hope they are, but who knows. At this point, faith ain't done shit for us." I resisted saying that faith hadn't done shit for her father. That would be taking things too far. I rubbed some leaves on a bush, then heard the familiar whimper of the blonde starting to cry.

"Don' cry." I said, dropping my weapon to the ground and wrapping my arms around her. She buried her head into my chest, wetting my flannel. I didn't care though.

"I miss Daddy." She cried, wrapping her arms around my neck, still weeping into my shirt. I flinched at the gesture, and she immediately stopped and looked up at me.

"I'm not going to hit you, Daryl. I wouldn't do that." I nodded, turning my head away from her a little. "Look at me." She pleaded, raising her voice a little. I did as she asked, and she stood up onto her tip-toes, planting a small kiss on my cheek. I tensed up at the intimation that she liked me, then relaxed.

A/N: Imagine that small kiss like when Beth kissed Rick.

"What was that for?" I asked, shocked at the small action. She gave her signature half smile again, shrugging.

"To show you that you arent alone."

We followed the railroad tracks until dark, when we finally came across a sign.

"Sanctuary for all. Those who arrive, survive." She read a bit of what was on the paper, then pointed to the big marking on the map.

"Terminus. The original name for Atlanta." I remembered learning that from my father, back when I was younger. I shook myself out of my thoughts.

"But Atlanta was overrun?" She said, turning away from the map to face me.

"That was almost two years ago. It's gotta be cleared out now...only one way to know." She quickly shook her head.

"No. Its a suicide run. I'm too afraid to do that." I reasoned with her for a bit before we finally agreed to find a neighborhood around here and clear out a house to stay in for the night. In the morning, we would keep walking the tracks.

We started making our way to the neighborhood on the right side of the tracks. When we reached the streets of townhouses, Beth gasped. Their must have been at least fifty of them. She pulled out her revolver and looked at me.

"We can take them, right?" She gripped my hand for a moment, intertwining our fingers. I nodded, and she dropped my arm. She ran into the scene, shooting the stumbling walkers. They started swarming around her, and I knew it was too much for her to take. I put an arrow through at least eight of them, and she handled the rest with her small weapons. After about ten minutes of killing, we had the small area cleared out.

I left it to Beth to pick out the house. I scanned each of the buildings for any lone walkers, and stuffed my backpack with cans of food and a few baby supplies for if we ever found Judith.

After a half an hour of searching, Beth called out for me a few times. I finally located the house she was at. It was a small house, but it would made our way in, scavenging for food. I found a can of sliced strawberries, and handed in to Beth. She kissed me on the cheek again, a silent thank you.

"There's only one bed. I hope that's okay." She blushed at the idea of us sharing a bed. I smirked, nodding.

"No problem with me. I get to sleep next to a cute little blonde tonight. Rick would be giving me high-fives." My comment earned a giggle from her, as she stood up from the floor where she was eating.

"I'm going to go wash up. The bedrooms in the hall upstairs. Its the last door on the left." I nodded as she started up the stairs.

Maybe we could make this work.


	3. Three - Skinny Love

**Switch of POV. Into the chapter lovelys! **

_Dear Diary, _

_**Skinny love;**_

**_(adj) when two people love each other and are too shy to admit it, yet they still show it._**__

_I think that Skinny Love is the best way to describe me and Daryl. I mean...how I feel about him. I know he is way too old, and way too rough for me...but I cant just ignore how I feel. Yaknow?_

_I know I havent written in you. I dont need to write down about Daddy, or the prison, because I know I will forever be haunted with the memories of seeing Daddy...Nevermind. _

_I think I let Daryl know how I felt today. I hope he thinks of me the same, though. But he probably doesnt. Anyway, when I was going through Daryl's backpack, I found some baby stuff. It hit me that Judith was probably inside one of those freaks. Tomorrow, I am going out to look for Rick and Carl. I just know that they made it out of there. Hopefully I can get Daryl to come along. _

_xx Beth. _

I pushed my diary under my pillow and waited for Daryl to come upstairs. I was in a pair of sweats that I had stuffed into my bag before the roof of the prison collapsed. I didn't have a shirt to wear to bed, so I had to sleep in my lightly blood-stained white tank top. I paced around the room, thinking of what to say when Daryl comes upstairs. I needed to tell him I thought of him more than just a friend.

No.

He doesn't feel the same, Beth.

He is 35. Your only almost 20.

What makes you think he would even see you like that?

I heard heavy boots coming up the wooden stairs, and I scurried over to the full sized bed and jumped under the white sheets. Daryl made his way to this doorway with a small smirk.

"You don't have to sleep in tha' dirty shirt. Just take it off, It doesn't matter." He chuckled, as I sat up. I felt my cheeks heat up. Was he just suggesting I slept in my bra?

"Are you suggesting I sleep half-naked?" He scoffed, taking off his shirt and crawling under the covers next to me.

"Eh..I've seen you in a bikini top in the summer. Wha's the difference?" He had a point. I quickly threw the top over and covered myself within a milli-second. He let out a small laugh, sitting with his back to me.

"Daryl, can I touch them?" I immediately regretted asking, and hoped it didn't spark a fight. He tensed up, then relaxed at my hand running over his scars that scattered across his back.

"You don't need to be ashamed. I have my own too." I showed him the three deep scars on my left wrist. He was sitting farther to the end of the bed then me, and he turned his head back a bit to see my battle wounds. After looking at my scars, our eyes met. I let out a small smile, and before I knew it, our lips were connected.

. /tumblr_ma0557ohmX1rs64too1_

It was only a single kiss, but It made me feel on top of the world. I could'nt help my smile when we pulled apart.

"Yu' like that?" He smirked before pulling the covers over his body.

**I need your guys opinion. Do you guys like the short chapters but fast updates, or would you prefer slower updates but longer chapters? I kinda like writing the 600-800 word chapters 2 or 3 times a day. It helps me because I get horrible cases of writers block if I try to write longer chapters. I like to space it out, yaknow? **

**xx Sarah. **


	4. Four - Awkward Mornings

You could say that the next morning was the most awkward time in my life. I woke up pushed up against Daryl's morning excitement, and I just about leaped out of the bed when I realized what I was on. Like last night wasn't awkward enough. I tried my best to not wake him up, tip-toeing to my bag. I quietly unzipped it, grabbing a loose top and a pair of jeans. I slipped into the bathroom, locking the door. I stripped out of my pajamas and changed into my new outfit for the day, then went back to my bag. I opened up the small pocket on the side and pulled out a small bottle of body spray, which only had a little product left. I groaned, spritzing the vanilla scented liquid on my chest.

"Tha' smells good." I rolled my eyes, tucking the bottle back into the pocket it was in.

"Go back t' sleep." I said, making my way down the stairs of the small house. I checked around the bottom floor for any un-invited guests, then walked into the kitchen. I scanned the cabinets for any type of breakfast. To be honest, now no one cared about the expiration date. We were so mal-nourished that we all knew eventually we would puke the food back up. I would still kill for some pancakes though.

I finally found some bran-flakes. I opened up the package and pulled the bag apart. I was relieved that they actually weren't stale. I popped a few in my mouth, then searched through the cabinets. Thankfully, no one had taken any bowls or spoons when they raided the place. I grabbed two bowls, a pink and a black, then poured some cereal into both. I filled the bowls, because we both hadn't had a good breakfast in forever. I set his food down on the small wooden dining room table, then sat in one of the chairs and started enjoying my breakfast. I could hear him coming down the stairs, so I grabbed a clean spoon and dropped it in his bowl. He stood in the doorway of the kitchen with a smirk.

"Damn. I haven' had cereal that aint stale since the farm." I looked down at his remark, remembering my mom and that little girl Sophia. He could tell I was uncomfortable, so he came and sat down at his food. His eyes met mine for a second before he averted his gaze down to his flakes, spooning some up and into his mouth. He ate like a pig, but I didnt mind.

"So I was thinking we could stay here for another day. I think we could make this place work once we find Maggie and Glenn and the others...if we ever do." I bit my lip, finishing up my cereal. I stood up, put my empty bowl in the sink, and sat back down next to him. I watched him eat the last spoonful of flakes. Mid-chew he looked up at me, dropping his spoon into the bowl.

"Oh, uh yeah." He agreed. I could tell he wasnt even listening to my idea, as he was way too caught up in the good breakfast. He put his spoon and bowl in the sink before returning to me.

"About last night..." I started. I remembered the lingering feeling of his lips on mine the previous night, and I couldnt help but let the goofy smile that I made after the kiss re-appear. I quickly hid it, but there was no way I could hide the blood rushing to my cheeks. He chuckled, watching the blush show upon my fair skin.

"I know yu' like me Beth." He said bluntly, as the corners of his lips went upward a bit.

"What?" I felt the red deepen, and I tried to hide my face a bit.

I did not like Daryl Dixon. No, absolutely not.

"It's quite obvious, kiddo." I met his gaze, not caring about my face. Even though I probably resembled a tomato.

"Don't call me "kiddo." Im almost twenty." I replied, squinting my eyes at him in an effort to look atleast a bit annoyed. But, he could see that I was just emberassed.

"Alright, cupcake." I threw my hands up before pushing him a little bit. He just let out a chuckle, regaining his balance in his chair.

"I don't like you, Daryl. Atleast not like that. Even if I did, there is no way that we could ever be together because Daddy would throw a-" I came to the realization of what I was saying, and felt tears threaten to overflow. I shook it off, ignoring the image of the previous days events.

"Well, your diary says otherwise."

Shit.


	5. Five - Early Morning Corner Store Trips

**Guys. I deeply apologize for not updating all weekend. Im sorry, dont kill me. :P **

**But yeah, Im sorry. Im going through a tough time right now and my updates will be 2-3 days apart BUT they will be 1k-2k words each instead of around 700. I know this is a short chapter, but I had a dance competition this weekend and was out of town. I will do a 2k chapter next. **

**xx Sarah **

"Who gives you the right to go snooping in_ my _diary?!" I quietly yelled, trying not to attract any dangers. My accent was definitly shining through, like it always did when I was embarrased.

"It slipped ou' from under yu' pillow." He smirked, and I could feel the blush return.

"Skinny Love; (adj) when two people love eachother but are too shy to admit it, but they still show it." He recited what I had written the night before. I rolled my eyes and lightly punched him in the shoulder, chuckling.

"Oh _whatever_." He rubbed his shoulder like it hurt, but I knew it didnt. He stood from his chair and pulled his angel-wing vest on. That vest was his signature. He wore it almost everywhere.

"You comin'?" He picked up his crossbow and stepped to the front door.

"Depends, where we going?" I replied, putting my knife in one of my back belt loops, which is where it always goes.

"Who knows." I just shrugged in a kind of "eh..what the hell." manner, and joined him out the door.

"You know, your pretty stupid." I teased, as we both got off of his motorcycle. The wind of the ride kept me cool, but the Georgia heat was finally setting in.

"How?" He questioned, adjusting the strap on his crossbow before making his way toward the door of the small corner store.

"Your always complaining about how you dont wann' use a gun because it attracts walkers, but you ride an awfully loud motorcycle." He scoffed, hitting his elbow against the glass window on the side of the door. No walkers. I sighed in relief, and we stepped into the store.

"You have a point. Here, hit up the medicine over there. Im gon' search for some jerky and water. Get whatever you think we eventually migh' need." I nodded at his instructions and set off to find some pain-killers or something. I inspected the off-white shelves of the medicine aisle, reading each label as quick as possible. I ended up with some Tylenol, Advil, Ibuprofen, and some Children's cold medicine incase we ever found Judith, Lizzie, or Mika. I threw the bottles into a hand basket and turned to where Daryl was checking for any jerky.

"Done." I said, pleased with what I had grabbed. He looked up from his searching, eyed the hand basket, and nodded.

"Here, i'll help you find some jerky or somethin'." I joined him at his side, scavenging through all the shelves. I finally found a bag of jerky and held it up. He smiled a little before returning to the shelf. I sighed and continued searching for more.

We eventually walked out of the store with some spam, four bags of jerky, a couple bottles of water, tylenol, advil, ibuprofen, cold medicine, and seven small cans of fruit. I stuffed everything into my backpack before tossing the hand basket at the door of the store and hopping up onto the seat of the motorcycle behind Daryl.

"Is that Carl's hat?" Beth asked as I slowed down to a stop. She stepped off and made her way over to the signature brown sherriff hat. She picked it up, and even I could see it was drenched with blood. She started sobbing at the sight of her friends blood-covered token. I dropped my head, trying to avoid her gaze. She collected herself after a few minutes and stepped back over to the motorcycle and got on behind me, hat still in hand.


End file.
